Reinhard Möller (church lawyer)

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Reinhard Johannes Möller , also Moeller (born February 4, 1855 in Radevormwald , † November 18, 1927 in Bielefeld ) was a German lawyer and Protestant church politician.

Life

Möller, son of pastor Carl Möller (1816–1893) and grandson of general superintendent Johann Friedrich Möller , worked after studying law and political science at the universities of Tübingen , Göttingen and Berlin, first as a court assessor in Magdeburg, later in Lüneburg and Naumburg (Saale ) . In 1886 he became a government assessor and later a government councilor in Gumbinnen . From 1890 he was employed in Berlin in the Ministry of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs, but already in the following year changed to the Evangelical Upper Church Council (EOK), the governing authority of the Evangelical Church of the older provinces of Prussia . Here he rose to the position of secular vice-president in 1904 and president in 1919.

The transformation of the regional church, which is dependent on the imperial rulers' church regiment, into the presbyterial-synodal church of the Old Prussian Union was largely designed by Möller. Since the chairmanship of the EOK was also associated with that of the German Evangelical Church Committee , Möller was also able to decisively promote the establishment of the German Evangelical Church Federation. As chairman of DEKA, he was the highest representative of Protestantism in Germany and, among other things, campaigned for participation in the emerging ecumenical movement . Despite his basic monarchical attitude, he was more positive towards the republic than many other church leaders of his time; In 1923 and 1924, at the request of the Reich Government, he campaigned for the anniversary of the Weimar Constitution to be celebrated with a church service.

Möller retired on January 31, 1925 and moved to Göttingen.

Möller was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1910 by the Friedrichs University in Berlin . He also received the Order of the Red Eagle 2nd Class with a Star.

Fonts (selection)

  • D. Harnack and the Traub case . A reply . Warneck, Berlin 1912.
  • The contributions of the old Prussian regional church . Runge, Berlin-Lichterfelde 1918.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Fitschen: State constitutional celebrations and their response in the Evangelical Church of the Weimar Republic . In: Michael Maurer (Hrsg.): Festival cultures in comparison: Staging of the religious and the political . Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2010, p. 264f
personal data
SURNAME Möller, Reinhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Möller, Reinhard Johannes (full name); Moeller, Reinhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and Protestant church politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Radevormwald
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1927
Place of death Bielefeld